The Catalan President in Brussels: “The EU solution will not be to kick out 7.5 million Europeans”

Brussels (ACN).- In his seventh official visit to the European Union institutions as President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, met with three European Commissioners on Monday. Mas acknowledged that they had not asked him about Catalonia’s independence process – an attitude that does not surprise him, he said. Mas explained that neither had he brought it up, since his visit was to discuss specific policies and issues. “If they do not ask me about it [Catalonia’s self-determination process], I do not talk about it”, he said. However, when addressing the press, the Catalan President emphasised that “the EU solution will not be to kick out 7.5 million European citizens”. He also asked the EU to have the “political and intellectual honesty to acknowledge there are no precedents” regarding Catalonia’s case and said that the issue still needs to be fully analysed before drawing conclusions. In this context he reiterated that Catalonia has been a net contributor to the EU budget since 1986 and that “we [Catalans] are European citizens just like everybody else”. In addition, he stated that the European Union “should take good care in studying what is going on in Catalonia” because “there are not many democratic and people-driven movements in Europe that are so broadly based” and “gather so many people, in a cool atmosphere, with a constructive spirit”.

On Monday, the President of the Catalan Government was in Brussels to meet with three European Commissioners. Early in the morning he met with the Hungarian Lázsló Andor, responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Mas and Andor mainly discussed youth unemployment, employment creation and the fight against poverty. Later on, the Catalan President held a lunch meeting with the Finnish Olli Rehn, Vice President for Economic and Monetary Affairs. The two politicians mostly talked about fiscal consolidation, austerity measures and budget cuts, which the Catalan Government has been implementing since 2010. In the afternoon, Mas met with the Slovak Maros Sefkovic, European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Administration, also to discuss austerity measures and efficiency in the public sector. On this occasion, the President of the Catalan Government did not meet with the Commission President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso. However, Mas has already met with 20 of the 28 members of the European Commission’s College of Commissioners in the last three years.

The EU should have the “political and intellectual honesty to acknowledge there are no precedents”

While addressing the press in Brussels, the Catalan President said that “This is not the time for the EU to declare its stance” on Catalonia’s hypothetical independence from Spain because “it has not been analysed yet”. Mas recognised that Catalonia’s self-determination process is “just another problem” on the table for the EU institutions. In this vein, he added that the opinions expressed in the last few days by the European Commissioners Almunia and Barnier, as well as by the Commission Spokesperson, Pia Ahrenkilde against Catalonia’s EU membership are “interested stances”. The Catalan President pointed out that the EU “should have the political and intellectual honesty to acknowledge there are no precedents” regarding the secession of a part of a Member State, and no path is set in the EU Treaties for this eventuality. The Catalan Government has been arguing that the issue should be solved through a political negotiation, which could lead to transition agreements.

“Common sense has to prevail […] because it seems that the recent statements are more related to gut-reaction than to reason. And this issue has to be treated wisely, with common sense, and in the European space this means that citizens should be allowed to decide which political status they want to have”, Mas declared. He also emphasised that Catalans “have all their European citizenship rights accumulated since 1986” and “Catalonia is in line with all the EU legislation”. Furthermore, he underlined that since its accession Catalonia “has been a net contributor [to the EU budget] and has always put more money in than it has received back, which is the opposite of Spain”. “We are European citizens just like everybody else”, he pointed out. Therefore, he concluded that in the event of an independent Catalonia, “the EU solution will not be to kick out 7.5 million European citizens”.